Apple has almost 200,000 iPhone applications available for sale at its App Store and this number will grow exponentially with the growing popularity of the iPhone, iPod and the new iPad.

iPhone App Marketing
The competition is fierce so in order to succeed you must aggressively promote your iPhone app if you want a fighting chance. What’s the best way to promote your app? There is no “best” way. You must employ multiple tactics to crack the success code. Simply relying on word of mouth is not enough — you need to get the attention of the news media. Just look how fast the TigerText app got traction after it was featured by CNN and Time Magazine. Shortly after those news organizations featured it other media outlets jumped on the bandwagon and promoted it as well. This has led to people talking about it at the water cooler, at Starbucks and everywhere else. You can put this powerful force to work for you too. How? My solution as a publicist is to seek publicity to help get the word of mouth going which will then lead to those highly sought after downloads.

Check out this list of 52 suggestions I’ve compiled on how to promote your iPhone App suggestions garnered from my extensive experience as a public relations professional and Internet Marketing Specialist in promoting all types of products, inventions and services

Is your name catchy like “TigerText”? If not, consider renaming your app so it can be found more easily in Google searches and in the app store.

Include and promote content in your app that cannot be found anywhere else.

Send out a well-written press release to the media announcing your new app and its special features no one can do without.

Do not overlook online press release distribution. It’s a great way to access trade pubs, blogs, and consumer magazines. Check out PR-Inside.com and the Apple/Mac/iPhone only site prMac.com

Get a launch sponsor and co-promote. Hook up with a company that could benefit from being associated with this app.

Create a demonstration video and place it on your own YouTube channel.

Distribute the demo video online using free services like TubeMogul.

Create a tune or license one to play along with your YouTube video

Offer a free trial for users with an upgrade path to the paid version.

Host an App Launch Party for friends, family and prospects. Make sure the cake has your logo on it. Order custom imprinted balloons displaying your app’s icon.

Get friends and relatives who are well-versed on your app to create a buzz by posting on Twitter, Facebook and MySpace.

Set up a Facebook Fan page to showcase your app. It’s free and easy and your fan page can be found in search engines. When someone joins your fan page it’s published in the news feeds for friends to read. Wonderful viral marketing tool.

Create wallpaper with rows of your app’s icon and use it on your profile pages in Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.

Within your app, create Twitter and Facebook update features so users can easily post comments on their social network about how great your app is. Suggest a few pre-canned messages and include a small URL that links to your app in the app store.

Participate in Q&A forums online, such as WikiAnswers and Yahoo Answers.

Get listed in free online directories such as DMOZ.

Place free classified ads on Craigslist.

Create your own blog using a service such as WordPress and post an announcement about your new app or about a feature update to your app.

Using Google Adwords keyword tool, come up with list of keywords most relevant to your target audience and use those keywords in your promotional materials, on your website, in YouTube tags and in your articles about the app.

Use 2D mobile barcoding in your ads, packaging and other customer touch points. 2D barcodes can be scanned with camera phones and the scanned barcode information can provide a link directly to your app in the iPhone App Store.

Conduct a highly-targeted email campaign to prospects but keep it CAN-SPAM compliant to avoid fines or criminal penalties.

Create a targeted opt-in text messaging campaign.

Add a description of your app below your email signature line so it will go out with all your emails. That signature line should include a URL link directly to your app in the iPhone App Store.

Word of Mouth is still one of the most powerful marketing tools available. Use PR to fuel a highly-successful word of mouth campaign.

Change your voice mail recorded message on land phones and cell phones to include a mention of your new app.

Add new features to your app over time. Feature upgrades to provide new PR opportunities.

Add your location and more information for free to Google Maps.

Create a website and use the URL in all promotional material.

Collect user reviews and feedback and post them on your website on the home page, not just a testimonial page.

Collect as many celebrity endorsements as you can and place on website and use in promotional materials. Would a Hollywood star using your app help sell it?

Aim to make the “What’s Hot” or “Staff Favorites” lists at the Apple App Store.

Is our competition getting more than their fair share of media coverage?

Would media coverage get people to download my iPhone app?

Do I have a PR strategy for continuous year round media coverage for our iPhone app?

If the answers to these questions are not satisfactory developers should consider hiring Westwind Communicationsor other publicist who’ll “pitch” the media on their iPhone app. A publicist will create a story idea involving the app that would interest the people who read, watch or listen to a particular media outlet that would cover the app.

iPhone App Public Relations
If you have the internal staff and expertise to commit to your public relations effort then you should still consider hiring an outside PR firm to just promote the iPhone app. The reason? There is much to do and it’s a big world out there with plenty of media outlets to reach. The outside PR firm can focus on the iPhone app exclusively.

The busier you get, the easier it is to “set aside” consistent, important PR activities. Don’t get caught in that trap! If you want your iPhone app to be a success then hire a publicist who can get the publicity you deserve!